Am  jJuiy?Sarm-}        Botany  and  Materia  Medica.  397' 
panicled  cyme.  It  is  now  placed  in  a  new  genus,  as  Microtcena 
cymosa,  Prain. 
Prof.  C.  S.  Sargent,  Garden  and  Forest,  Vol. 
The  Palmettos  of  IX,  p.  151,  in  a  paper  on  "  The  Tree  Palms  of 
the  United  States,  the  United  States,"  describes  the  cabbage  palm 
or  cabbage  palmetto,  Sabal  palmetto,  and  its 
technical  uses.  This  palm  inhabits  the  coast  region  of  the  South- 
eastern States,  from  an  island  off  the  mouth  of  Cape  Fear  River,  in 
North  Carolina,  to  Southern  Florida,  and  along  the  Gulf  coast  to 
the  Apalachicola.  The  large  terminal  leaf-bud  of  this  tree  is  cooked 
as  a  vegetable.  The  custom  is  an  extravagant  one,  as  the  removal 
of  the  bud  kills  the  tree.  The  fibres  of  the  young  leaves  are  now 
used  for  making  scrub-brushes.  The  top  of  a  young  plant  with  its 
Dud  is  cut  off,  trimmed  down  to  a  disk  of  about  8  inches  in  length, 
and  then,  after  the  soft  edible  core  has  been  removed,  boiled  to  sepa- 
rate the  fibres.  The  removal  of  the  top  kills  the  plant,  and  as  one 
concern  in  Jacksonville  alone  consumes  7,500  buds  a  week,  the  time 
is  not  very  far  distant  when  the  Sabal  palmetto  will  become  a  rare 
tree.  The  trunks  of  this  tree  are  found  to  withstand  the  attacks  of 
the  teredo,  and  are  extensively  used  for  wharf  piles. 
Prof.  Henry  Trimble,  Garden  and  Forest,  Vol.  IX,  p.  182,  has 
examined  the  tannins  of  the  palmettos  and  states:  "That  the 
reports  which  have  circulated  in  regard  to  the  tanning  value  of  the 
palmetto  have,  no  doubt,  always  referred  to  the  scrub  palm  (Serenoa 
serrulata1),  and  excellent  leather  has  been  prepared  from  it.  A 
recent  sample  yielded  the  following  percentages  on  analysis : 
Ash  in  Abso-   Tannin  in  Ab- 
lutely  Dry       solutely  Dry 
Moisture.       Material.  Material. 
Stem  above  ground   8 '56  5*68  5*48 
Root   .  .   7-46  4*43  7 '58 
The  tannin  is  associated  in  the  plant  with  a  large  proportion  of 
red  coloring  matter,  which  has  a  tendency  to  make  a  dark  leather. 
1  To  the  pharmacist  the  saw  palmetto  has  acquired  some  interest,  as  the  fruit 
has  been  claimed  to  possess  nutrient  value,  and  as  a  catarrhal  remedy.  It  is- 
lauded  by  the  manufacturers  of  certain  proprietaries,  as  possessing  tonic  action 
on  the  genital  organs,  and  as  reducing  enlargement  of  the  prostate  gland. 
From  a  paper  on  the  "Botany,  Histology  and  Pharmacy  of  Saw  Palmetto," 
contributed  by  Dr.  H.  H.  Rusby,  Mr.  W.  A.  Bastedo  and  Prof.  Virgil  Coblentz,  to 
the  New  Jersey  Pharmaceutical  Association,  the  following  note  is  abstracted. 
The  description  of  the  plant  is  as  follows  :    "The  trunk  is  horizontal  and  sub- 
